News & Analysis as of

Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) Deferred Compensation

Lowenstein Sandler LLP

Puttin’ on Your Top Hat: How to Effectively Structure a Deferred Compensation Plan as a “Top Hat” Plan

Lowenstein Sandler LLP on

“Top hat plans” —non-qualified deferred compensation plans that can be exempt from most of the requirements of Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 or ERISA—can be a useful tool for employers looking to provide...more

Foley & Lardner LLP

To 457(b) or Not to 457(b): Five Rules You Must Follow to Keep Your 457(b) Plan Compliant

Foley & Lardner LLP on

Recruiting and retaining top executives can be challenging for non-governmental tax-exempt organizations such as Code §501(c)(3) organizations, private universities, and certain healthcare organizations (Nonprofits). Not only...more

Saul Ewing LLP

A Wellness Check for Your Employee Benefit Plans Part 4: Executive Compensation Reminders

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This week we move away from the world of the standard retirement or health and welfare plans and into the world of executive compensation. Executive compensation arrangements provide a company with a highly flexible benefit...more

Husch Blackwell LLP

Attracting and Retaining Key Executives through Deferred Compensation Plans

Husch Blackwell LLP on

Deferred compensation plans offer highly compensated and key employees an opportunity to earn performance awards, defer compensation and taxes until a later date, reduce certain payroll taxes, informally find executive life...more

Verrill

How many participants is too many for a top hat plan?

Verrill on

A client recently reviewed a census of participants in its deferred compensation plan and found that the covered group amounted to nearly 15% of its total workforce. Mindful of the need to limit the number of participants in...more

Snell & Wilmer

2021 End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” List (Part 4) Executive Compensation

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As is tradition, we are happy to present our End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” Lists. We are publishing our “To Do” Lists in four separate Employee Benefits Updates. Part 1 covered year-end health and welfare plan issues, Part...more

Snell & Wilmer

Updated Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Plan Audit Guide

Snell & Wilmer on

In June the Internal Revenue Service released an updated Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Audit Technique Guide. This updated Guide replaces the initial Guide published in 2015. While it is too early to say whether the...more

Verrill

Order of Benefit Deductions from Employee Pay

Verrill on

From time to time we field questions about the order in which deductions for various employee benefits (e.g., 401(k) plan elective deferrals and insurance premiums for welfare benefit plan benefits) should be taken from an...more

Perkins Coie

Employee Benefit Plan Developments—2020 Year in Review

Perkins Coie on

Employee benefits professionals have faced many challenges in 2020. We have seen remarkable changes to state and local requirements, an onslaught of new benefits legislation and governmental policies, shifting reporting and...more

Holland & Hart - The Benefits Dial

Our D.I.V.O.R.C.E. … Is Going To Be Tricky For My Employer To Handle

Nonqualified deferred compensation plans often include anti-assignment language prohibiting a plan participant from assigning benefits to anyone. Because top-hat plans are exempt from most aspects of ERISA including the...more

Gerald Nowotny - Law Office of Gerald R....

ROCK OF AGES: The Arithmathean Pension Plan - Using the Pooled Income Fund for Non-Deferred Compensation Planning

The first article for professional publication that I wrote was an article about using offshore trusts in non qualified deferred compensation planning. I called the article the Rastafarian Rabbi Trust. The article was...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

401(k) Plans don’t have to be a period, they can be a comma

Too often brokers and financial advisors think about their client’s retirement plan needs and only think about the 401(k) plan. It’s understandable based on their lack of understanding of retirement plan basics, but it’s not...more

Holland & Hart - The Benefits Dial

Walk this way…to avoid the pitfalls of ERISA

Companies implement bonus plans to meet a variety of business objectives: retention, specific company business goals, change of control, and others. In designing bonus plans, there are a variety of legal fields that must be...more

King & Spalding

Compensation and Benefits Insights – September 2019

King & Spalding on

“Exit Contribution” an End-Run Around de minimis Withdrawal Liability - A recent ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Sheet Metal Workers’ National Pension Fund v. Four-C-Aire, Inc. (4th Cir. July...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Say Whaaat? The Sixth Circuit Debates “Corpus Linguistics” as a Tool for Statutory Interpretation

A seemingly routine Sixth Circuit appeal involving the interpretation of the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act statute (ERISA) recently sparked an interesting debate between two Circuit Judges — Amul Thapar and...more

Blank Rome LLP

Sting of Deferred Compensation Tax—Is There Any Recourse against Employer

Blank Rome LLP on

Section 409A was added to the Tax Code in 2004 to, among other things, limit the ability of companies and their executives to optimize tax outcomes by controlling the timing of deferred compensation payments. Although this...more

Kilpatrick

6th Circuit Case Emphasizes Potential Employer Liability to Participants for 409A Violations

Kilpatrick on

Although employees face additional taxes and decreased benefits resulting from employer failures involving nonqualified deferred compensation (NQDC) plans, they may sue employers to recover their losses. For ERISA-covered...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Not All Is Lost for California Employers: Enforce Non-Compete Forfeiture Provisions through ERISA Top Hat Plans?

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

Even before the California Supreme Court decided Edwards in 2008, employers knew all too well the woes of attempting to enforce non-competes against California employees. Edwards simply reaffirmed California’s long-standing...more

Dickinson Wright

Debunking SPD Myths, Part 5: Yes, There Are Reporting Requirements for “Top Hat” Plans

Dickinson Wright on

It is well known by employers that nonqualified deferred compensation (“NQDC”) plans that are established to provide unfunded deferred compensation benefits to a select group of management or highly compensated employees...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

[Podcast]: Proposed IRS Regulations Affecting 401(k) and 403(b) Plans

In this episode of the Proskauer Benefits Brief, Paul Hamburger co-chair of Proskauer’s Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group, and associate Steven Einhorn discuss the recently proposed IRS regulations addressing...more

Verrill

New Disability Claims Procedures Affect Retirement Plans and Deferred Compensation Plans Too

Verrill on

Much has been written about the Department of Labor’s final rule regarding disability benefit claims procedures (the “Final Rule”), which took effect on April 2, 2018. And by now, most employers – and all disability insurance...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

On The Form 5500, sometimes the answer lands you in trouble

When you’re filing that Form 5500, just notice that certain answers may likely lead you to an Internal Revenue Service or Department of Labor audit....more

Stinson - Benefits Notes Blog

New Disability Claims Procedures May Apply to Qualified and Nonqualified Retirement Plans, Too

As mentioned in our recent blog, the date for complying with the new disability claims procedures (April 2, 2018) is rapidly approaching. In addition to making sure disability plans comply with the new rules, employers...more

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC

Action Needed by Certain ERISA Plans – New Disability Claims Procedures Apply Beginning April 2018

In January 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced that final regulations affecting how some ERISA plans process claims and appeals will apply beginning April 1, 2018. As explained below, the final regulations...more

Proskauer Rose LLP

ERISA Newsletter - Fourth Quarter 2017

Proskauer Rose LLP on

Editor's Overview - For over two decades, federal law has required covered health plans and insurers to ensure that certain mental health benefits are in parity with offered medical/surgical benefits. The meaning of...more

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